1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an educational board game and more particularly to a board game that is intended to teach and familiarize people of all ages the meaning of figurative expressions commonly used in the English language.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Educational board games are well known in the prior art and in particular board games which test the analytical and interpretive skills of the participants. While the board games are intended to provide the participants with amusement and leisure time activity, the subject matter of the games provides the participants with an exercise of learning skills and the opportunity to increase the knowledge of the participants in a particular field or activity. Examples of such board games are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,939,578; 4,078,803; 4,090,717; 4,124,214; 4,273,3377; 4,592,553; 4,606,546; and 4,671,516.
Commercially successful board games which have acquired popularity, not only for their entertainment value but for intellectual stimulation, are marketed under the trademarks "Trivial Pursuit", "Pictionary" and "Whatzit". For example, in the game "Whatzit", the rate of progress of the participants along a continuous path from a start point to a finish point is determined by the individual participant's ability to correctly analyze words on one face of a card to provide an answer in the form of a title or related expression. For example, on the face of one card is the word "rebellion" positioned above the word "reward". The answering participant must analyze these two words and their relative positions to each other and provide an answer which relates to the words. In this case the correct answer is "Mutiny On The Bounty". In the game of "Pictionary" an answering participant must deduce from an illustration drawn by another participant the combination of terms or expressions literally represented by the illustration.
There are many expressions in the English language that, if taken literally, would have a nonsensical meaning but are understood to have a useful figurative meaning. For example, the expression "shake a leg" when used in the English language is commonly known to have a meaning which differs from the literal meaning of the expression, namely, to move quickly about one's business. The English language includes hundreds and hundreds of such figurative expressions that if taken literally have a nonsensical meaning. These expressions have been readily adopted into the English language and, while they are considered to be idiomatic expressions they are used generally in a creative and clever manner. They have been integrated into general English language usage but their meaning may be unfamiliar to some people, such as children and individuals, who are not fluent in the English language.
Therefore, there is need for a game that exposes participants to figurative expressions and stimulates the participants to learn the meaning of these expressions in a manner that is both entertaining in an interactive atmosphere and individually stimulating to the intellect of the participants.